Question 3
On 31.10.2018, an unidentified body of a male person is seen by “R”, a forest guard, in the forest. He informs the police. The police records information regarding the finding of an unidentified body and its unnatural death. The post-mortem is conducted on the next day. As the body remained unidentified, it was buried in the burial ground after taking its photographs.
Subsequently, an FIR is lodged about the murder of “X” by his wife on 20.11.2018. The accused is arrested and makes a confession of X’s murder. Pursuant to his disclosure statement, he takes the police to the spot where he had thrown the body after X’s murder in the forest. The dead body was exhumed and second post-mortem was conducted. During the course of investigation, the procedure of super imposition of the face of the deceased was done by a doctor, after which the dead body was determined to be that of “X”. The accused pleads that non recovery of corpus delecti is fatal and the prosecution has failed to establish identity of the dead body.
Discuss the permissibility and reliability of identification by super imposition test. Does DNA test in such cases stand on a different footing?
Answer:
Superimposition test is a forensic technique to assist the authorities in the analysis of an unknown skull/face by superimposing an image of the recovered skull over a post- mortem image of the suspected individual.
This test of identification of the face/skull of the deceased is based on the expert’s opinion under Indian Evidence Act. According to various landmark cases such as Russian murder incident in Goa, 2008, Pahargani Bomb Blast case in 1996, the High Courts have relied and accepted the piece of evidence based on Super imposition test. This shows that from time immemorial the courts have clearly indicated that super imposition test is an acceptable piece of opinion evidence in the criminal trials.
The Supreme Court has reiterated and established the fact in the recent case of Pattu Rajan v. State of Tamil Nadu, (2019) 2 SCC (Cri) 354 that superimposition test is merely one-piece evidence and it cannot be regarded as a conclusive test to identify the face of the deceased as it may not conclusively establish identification. However, non – conducting of a DNA Test and the reliance on evidence of superimposition test is not improper.
Although, in today’s time, DNA test is considered to be the most reliable test and helps the court to identify the body clearly, still DNA test like all other opinion evidence varies from case to case, depending on facts and circumstances of each case. Hence, it will be right to say that like DNA Test, superimposition test can also be the sole incriminating circumstance in regards to identification of the body as it cannot be regarded as infalliable.
Hence, DNA test and superimposition test do not stand on a different footing in cases of identification of the deceased and both are accepted, permitted and relied by the Indian Courts.
Legal Aspect of Super Imposition Test and DNA Test
Both Super Imposition Test and DNA Test comes within the ambit of Expert’s Opinion under Evidence Law. However, the use and reliability of both the Test are important for different cases. For instance, DNA test is conducted through nucleated cell in the body, therefore any biological fluid, skin or viscera can provide DNA for analysis purposes. This means that DNA Tests are completely conclusive and true in case where there is ample source for identification. However, there are certain situations where the DNA sources may not be available such as in case of decaying skull with no soft tissue. Here, unlike DNA test, superimposition test can be reliable and permissible as the bodies could be recovered only in the form of skeletal remains. Hence, since skull is formed of no soft tissue but only skeletal remains, therefore, in such cases, Super Imposition Test helps a great deal in ensuring that none of the details were missed out and assisted in achieving a scientifically satisfactory conclusion in each case with fair amount of accuracy and ease.
Conclusively, the uses of DNA test and Super Imposition Test are different depending on the source of information available to the medical experts. Hence, the results of both the tests are permissible and reliable by the Indian Courts.
